If you decided to skip everything and head directly to the conclusion then firstly boooooo, and secondly the predecessor mentioned in the cons list here refers to the FiiO K9 Pro ESS we saw two years ago and currently sells for $820-850. Based on FiiO's new product naming scheme, there should be a K11, K13, K15, K17, and K19 in the desktop DAC/amp series with the K11 and K19 now already out. The hypothetical FiiO K17 would be the direct replacement to the K9 Pro ESS as far as pricing goes, meaning things have been bumped up price wise if you want to get the flagship product compared to the previous generation. Going from $850 to $1300 is a whopping 52% increase in asking price so the K19 would have had to do a lot of things better than the K9 Pro ESS to justify its asking price even accounting for how the features:price curve is non-linear.

Perhaps it is telling then that FiiO still plans on selling the K9 series alongside the K19 for the time being as the vast majority of users will be satisfied by not only theK9 non-Pro model, but perhaps even the less expensive K7 itself. Going up the price ladder usually means more power output which many may not ever need, but also a fancier design and potentially more features too. The K9 series all effectively uses the same chassis and the K7 is much smaller by comparison. The new K19, on the other hand, is a brand-new design that is extremely versatile in terms of usage and orientation while managing to be slimmer than either of those two product lines from before. There's a lot more power on offer too, but offered in five different gain levels to where we still have excellent control over more sensitive IEMs just as much as with extremely hard-to-drive headphones such as the HIFIMAN Susvara. Add to this the usual extensive I/O options and HDMI in/out/ARC now and we have a device that can be a true home media setup controller.

All this would have not been able to convince me to recommend the K19 though. Sure, the direct competition from the likes of TOPPING costs about the same and there are DACs alone which go for 3-5x as much using similar hardware in different implementations. The FiiO K19 does not necessarily sound better than the K9 Pro ESS, which already is a great device in itself. The tipping point for me is when FiiO decided to add in a dedicated DSP engine in both hardware and software alike. The end result is a powerful 31-band PEQ, albeit with only three filter types, with several presets and up to 10 user-customizable profiles all saved onboard the device. This, combined with app or desktop software-based EQ customization, allows for the FiiO K19 to now easily address tonality issues with your favorite IEMs and headphones with a single EQ toggle. Having shortcuts on the dedicated remote control makes it all the easier! The FiiO K19 has everything but the kitchen sink thrown inside, and this may be overwhelming for some, so the target customer is a power user who actually wants to make use of all the innovative features available here. If you don't see yourself using the EQ functionality, for example, then perhaps the less expensive K7 or K9 series will suffice. But I don't have anything else here which offers everything the FiiO K19 does—except FiiO's own R9 network streamer/DAC/amp which costs even more—to where I acknowledge the K19 will be of interest to many despite the higher price.